Reinforcement in psychology refers to a stimulus aimed at strengthening or changing the behavior of an organism. Punishment and offering of rewards are some of the strategies used by living things to influence behavior. For instance, a pet owner can either give a beating to the pet upon wrong doing or reward the pet with a snack when it behaves. These acts of either rewarding or punishing behavior are meant towards reinforcing behavior. This paper will discuss reinforcement in detail and distinguish between primary, secondary and generalized reinforcers.
Reinforcement can either be positive or negative. Primary, secondary and generalized reinforcers are examples of positive reinforcement. In most cases, people associate punishment with negative reinforcement which is not always the case. At times punishment can produce positive outcomes (Michael, 1975). For instance, a child punished for wrong doing is likely not to repeat the mistake.